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Thu 8 Jul, 2004 08:17 pm
A food company in my state, Lotus Foods, packages three interesting rices.
Whether or not they are actually newly grown rices, they are new to my area. The rices are expensive per pound, but I have found them, so far, to be absolutely worth it.
One is a red rice that they call Bhutanese Red Rice. I've cooked it once, and struggle to remember what I put with it. Let me guess some sliced garlic and some hot italian sausage sauteed in olive oil. Whatever I did, the rice itself struck me as the best I'd ever tasted, and the combo worked well with it.
I've also cooked with the small white rice they package, which they call Kalijira. It's a baby basmati rice, startlingly tiny. Again I did something simple, I think I added some olive oil and grated parmigiano and pepper.
The next one is Forbidden Rice, a black rice that I haven't tried yet. A friend mentioned that Whole Foods sells it with some pinapple and other items in the ready to cook,or maybe that was ready to eat, package.
That might be good, but when I think of a black rice, I think.. ooh, with red onion? with a spicy sausage? with pecans? No, no, not those all together...
I like to play with ingredients for recipes to develop a dish that has flavors that really work together, and with the item they are added to, so that everything blends but that you enjoy all the tastes.
I have barely started playing around with these rices, at least two of which are delicious alone.
Has anybody else cooked with them?
OK, I'll answer myself, I tried the Forbidden Rice, the black one, tonight. I decided to use the spinach I had bought and had ready for lunch but forgot to bring to work for a salad, and some prosciutto with it.
I cooked the rice per directions, 1 3/4 cup rice to boiling water, simmer 30 minutes under cover. I didn't add salt as I was going to add the prosciutto, but I don't think it needs it anyway. I cheated and added a little more water, and wasn't sure about the timing, perhaps a little early, and looked, and tasted - it tasted good and there was still some black liquid in the bottom so I shut the flame off and let it sit a bit steaming itself. I sauteed the spinach, quite a bit of spinach, in 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 of olive oil, and threw the chopped prosciutto (1/4 lb.) in while it was sauteing.
I transferred the rice to a bowl and added the sauteed spinach and prosciutto mixture to it, and served myself a nice little bowlfull.
It is a liitle odd visually. Picture mouse bits with spinach...
but it was really really really good.